EDMONTON - An Albertan who killed himself while fleeing a U.S. murder charge for the slaying of his swimsuit model ex-wife is the subject of a recently filed Edmonton lawsuit.
According to a statement of claim filed in Edmonton's Court of Queen's Bench on Aug. 20, BMW Canada Inc. is alleging Ryan Jenkins owes them $12,750 in outstanding payments for a luxury car he was leasing.
The German automaker alleges Jenkins, 32, entered into a written lease agreement on June 6, 2007, whereby he leased a 2007 BMW 335xi sedan.
BMW says Jenkins agreed to make monthly payments of $932 up until June 2010, however the company claims he breached the agreement by failing to make the payments.
Jenkins allegedly made his last payment in March 2009 and had not forked over any money since.
BMW says the luxury sedan was returned to them and subsequently sold, but note there is a deficiency owing on the vehicle in the amount of $12,750 plus interest.
U.S. authorities laid first-degree murder charges against the Calgary realtor turned Hollywood reality TV contestant on Aug. 20, five days after the naked, strangled body of his ex-wife Jasmine Fiore, 28, was found.
U.S. and Canadian coast guards chased Jenkins's speed boat off the coast of northwest Washington on the same day, but he eluded them before slipping into Canada.
Jenkins's boat was discovered later tied up at the Point Roberts, Wash., marina, about 40 km south of Vancouver.
Mounties still don't know -- and perhaps will never learn -- how Jenkins crossed the border.
Jenkins was found hanging from a belt tied to a coat rack inside a motel room in Hope, B.C., on Aug. 23.
Fiore's mutilated body, with fingers and teeth removed, was found stuffed in a suitcase in a Buena Park, Calif., trash bin on Aug. 15.
She was identified using the serial number on her breast implants.
Police in California later said they found blood and evidence of a violent struggle inside a white Mercedes-Benz belonging to Fiore which had been found abandoned in West Hollywood.
Her death ended a short and tumultuous relationship with Jenkins, a contestant on VH1's Megan Wants a Millionaire.
The pair met in Las Vegas in March and married a few days later, but Fiore had it annulled.
